FIRE Calculator

When is "enough"?

Age & target

Current age

Target retire age

Buckets — balance & annual saving

Balance $+ $/yr

Pre-tax

Brokerage

Roth

Spending & withdrawal

Annual retirement expenses ($/yr, today's $)

Spending is post-tax (net)

Eff. tax % pre-SS yrs

Eff. tax % post-SS

Safe withdrawal rate (%)

SWR floor through bridge

On = the plan never withdraws above the SWR in any year before the last claim age — the classic SWR discipline holds through the SORR window, so SS becomes margin, not financing (conservative). Off = the bridge is priced as a planned principal drawdown at the expected real return — a smaller number, but the initial withdrawal rate (shown below) can exceed the SWR in exactly the years sequence risk bites hardest.

Toggle off = expenses are pre-tax (gross): taxes come out of the number you entered. Toggle on = expenses are what you actually spend: withdrawals are grossed up by the effective rates, switching from the pre-SS rate to the post-SS rate at the first claim age below.

Social Security

Include Social Security

PIA $/moClaim age

Primary

Spouse

Off by default — the conservative base case funds everything from the portfolio; toggle on to layer SS back in. Enter each spouse's PIA (benefit at FRA 67, today's $); the check is auto-adjusted for claim age — 70% at 62, 100% at 67, 124% at 70. The preset ages model a common split strategy: the lower earner claims at 62 (earliest), the higher earner delays to 70 for the bigger check and survivor floor. Claims can't start before 62 even if retired earlier. The Sequence-risk tab replays this same withdrawal schedule — tax gross-up and SS checks included.

Growth & inflation

Nominal growth %

Inflation %

Show nominal (future) dollars

Off = today's dollars (merge-clean, matches Roth model). Toggling never changes the FIRE/coast dates — only the dollar labels.

Lump-sum costs (today's $)

One-time outflows — college, home, etc. Pulled from brokerage first, then Roth, then pre-tax.

FIRE projection

Sequence risk

FIRE projection — real terms

Portfolio composition vs targets

FIRE number

CoastFIRE target

Pre-tax

Brokerage

Roth

Milestones

Sequence-of-returns stress test — historical

Retire in year

Equity %

Horizon (yrs)

Start portfolio ($) use FIRE number

Real balance trajectory (today's dollars)

Across all historical retirement cohorts

Sensitivity — initial withdrawal rate → historical outcome

Each row funds first-year spending at that initial withdrawal rate, then replays every historical cohort — once on gross spending alone (no SS), once with the plan's SS checks kicking in at each claim age